Garment structure



March 4, 1958 A. R. JOHNSON ,8

GARMENT STRUCTURE Filed Feb. 14, 1955 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 4, 1958 AR. JOHNSCN 2,825,067

GARMENT STRUCTURE Filed Feb. 14, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PRIOR 4219' 5" I INVENTOR flmw'q'avs PODEP/CK day/v50 United States Patent *GARMENTVSTRUCTURE -iflrmigeiie koderik lohnsonfwantagh, N. Y. kpplicatidn Februar 14, 1955, Serial No. 487396 '2 Claims. (cm-106 flihis invention relates to garments and more specifically :to a niimproved"sleeve for i blouses,shirts and other similar wearing apparel that will permit greater freedom of raction and will enable the arms to be raised'above the head without causing the blouse or shirt body being rra'ised and withdrawn from -its-'-norn1al ps'ition beneath at waist belt. At the same time t-he -i'mprove'd sleeve "structure does -not produce launching of the material beneath or in front ofthe s'houlderand'lprovides a neater, more orderly appearing garment. Considerable-effort has been devoted to blouse and shirt construction in order "to provide a .r'nore comfortable garment that -will stay Lin I.plac'e eve'n when the wearer "engages in 'activities *requ-iring free-use:of the arms. -Gussets be'neaththe arm and other similar devices have been employed to add greaterfreedom but while some success may have been attained, the added m' ate'rialhas detracted 'from the ap- :pearance of the arment and'bunching under the=arrrls is not-only noticeabl'e but interfereswith the-comfortof "the "wearer.

Accordingly one=object ofthe inventionfre sides-in the -."1'arovision*of a-blouse or shirt havin'g an improved sleeve structure enabling "greater freedom -"of action without pulling "the garment upwardly "about 'the waist of the 'We'arer and at the same 'tim'eafiord-an improved ap- "pearing sleeve without the bunching of 'rnaterial about the'"shouldera'nd upper arm part.

Anbther object "of the invention resides "in 'the 'p'rovision-of an improved sleeve 'str'ucturewhereinthe sleeve and bodyportions'of'the garment'are cbhnected one to "the-other so thatthematerial formingthese arment parts will be properly distributed about the shoulder 'topr'o- "vide improv'ed appearance"andgreater' freedorniof action.

- 'Siill'ano'ther objectiof the inventiona'esidesin theTprorisio'rfio tvan "improved "Sleeve structure and 'method of attachtnent to 'a garment th'at' causesdhe "sleeve to drape "timfornily 'over *the arm with the basic "support being trum the upper side of the garment "should'rto relieve -"the"stresses placed onth'efgarmentwhen'the"arhis are raised; Thisis particularly important in "the easeer blouses and shirts for both men and women "since the garment will not pull from beneath the skirt or trousers and produce 'an 'tintidy, ""urikept "appearance after the arms have been raised' s'everal tirns.

I The'tabove and. other objects "and advantages or the 'tinvention *will become more .apparentfrom tlre fo'llowing idscription -and accompanying drawings forming ipa'rt of position.

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and for comparison purposes the prior art "sleeve is shown in dotted "outline;

Fig. 5 is aside elevation bf a sleeve in 'a'cco'rdance with the invention prior to "attachment to 'a "shirt or blouse and with the sleevely'ing fiat;

Fig. 6 correspondsto Fig. '5 and illustratesthe priorart sleeve;

Fig. 7 shows the sleeve in accordance with the inven- -tion in full line as compared with aprior' art s'leev'esl'iown in dotted outline;

dom of action attained by the wearer without disturbing the blouse itself; and I Fig. 9 illustrates a prior art structureshowingiitsreaction on the blouse to e'ven'slig'ht movement'ofthe arm of the wearer. V 7

While the invention now to be'described is generally applicable to garments of alltypes for men, women'and children of cloth and other similar materials, it'isiparticularly useful in the case of shirts'and blouses adapted to be tucked in beneath '21 waist beltor a skirt, trousers or the like. As previously pointed out conventional shirt and blouse structures do not provide su'fiicient freedom for-the wearerso that the armscan'be' raised and lowered without causing the garment to pull out "fromben'e'a'th'the waist belt and thus look shabby and unkempt. Thissitu'ation is substantially completelyavoided by a sleeve in accordance with the invention which is so arranged and designed as to provide this added freedom without utilizing gussets or other structures involving the provision (Sf additional material beneath the arms and thus detracting from the appearance of the garment.

Referringnow to Figs. 1 and 1A theforr'ner illustrates 'a :ladys blouse in accordance with the invention 'and the top of the arm forming a more attractive looking 'garment. Note in both figures that an X has been placed at the waist line in order to illustrate the point of the blouse at the intersection of 'the waist belt 13.

Fig. 2 shows the arm 10 in the raised position. Note "that the material of'th'e sleeve near thepoint of attachment ll'to the blouse body IZ'hasbunchedonly slightly as shown at 14, while the point X of the blouse has not moved upwardly beyond the waist belt 13. Comparing this'with the similar action shown in theprior art structure of Fig. 2A substantial 'bunching is apparent about 'the shoulder and'the point 'X has moved definitely above the waist line 13 as shown. Fig. 3 shows the blouse in accordance with the invention withthe arm in the lowered Note that inthis View the sleeve 10 returns to a substantially similan'position to that shown in Fig. 1

with the upper portion of the sleeve being gently draped over the artn andpresenting a wellgroomed appearance. 'Contraryto this the prior art blouse of Fig. -3A- sho'ws a .verydefinitely bunched sleeve andthe-blousepart has been pulled out from the waist belt 13 and no longer I has the appearance observed in Fig. 1A. It is important Fig. 4 shows the development of the upper end of a sleeve in solid lines in accordance with the invention to note in this connection that this improved sleeve operation has been attained through the utilization of a structure which provides added freedom and yet presenting an appearance very much similar to that presented by the conventional sleeve.

The structure of a sleeve at its point of attachment 3 11 to the blouse body 12 is illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 7, while Fig. 8 illustrates in part how this great freedom of action is attained. Referring now to Fig. 4 it will be observed that the sleeve 10 at its point of attachment to the blouse 12 has tapered edges 15 and 16 that are joined together to form a cylindrical sleeve. The tapered aspect of this sleeve from the shoulder line 11 is shown more clearly in Fig. 5. The edge 11 of the sleeve 10 has a contour which differs on each side of a vertical center line and includes reversely curved end sections. More specifically and beginning at the edge 15, it wiil be noted thatthe contour of the edge 11 dips downwardly rather sharply to form a curved section 17 whereupon it curves upwardly to a maximum height 18 and then downwardly to a curved section 19 somewhat shallower than the curved section 17 to meet the opposing edge of the sleeve 16. The equivalent section of a prior art sleeve is shown in dotted outline on this figure to illustrate the substantial difference between the two contours. it will be observed that the width of the developed prior art sleeve is substantially narrower than the width of the sleeve in accordance with the invention and the slope of the top edge of the prior art sleeve is substantially steeper on each side of the center line than the sleeve in accordance with the invention. As will be shown the difierence in these contours causes the sleeve to hang at difterent angles relative to the body of the blouse to which they are attached with the sleeve in accordance with the invention making a substantially larger angle with the body than the prior art sleeve. The contour of the edge 11 will perhaps be more clearly observed in Fig. 5 which shows the very definite depression 17 in the front section of the sleeve and a. much shallower depression 19 in the rear portion thereof. This depression 17 serves to remove excess material from the front portion of the shoulder and avoids unnecessary blousing at this point which detracts from the garments appearance. Fig. 7 shows the sleeve 10 in accordance with the invention in full outline with the edge 11 aligned as closely as possible with the corresponding edge of the prior art sleeve shown in dotted outline. It will be observed that the peripheral lengths of both sleeve edges are substantially identical but the con tour of the sleeve in accordance with the invention is materially different than the contour of the prior art sleeve.

The structure of this improved sleeve which provides a slightly larger sleeve diameter about the upper portion of the arm and also extends from the blouse at an angle of about twenty to thirty degrees below a horizontal line through the shoulder portions thereof provides considerably increased freedom and at the same time does not place any stress or strain on the blouse body itself as the arm is moved upwardly and downwardly. This feature is shown in Fig. 8 which has been arranged to emphasize this action. Since the sleeve of Fig. 3 rests at a relatively large angle with the body, it tends to drape downwardly over the arm from the shoulder of the blouse 12 to present the appearance as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. However, the arm 20 when in the lowered position as shown in full lines pulls the under edge 15, 16 of the sleeve downwardly against the body without bunching under the arm pit. However, as the arm starts to raise as shown at 20 a substantial portion of the movement is taken up within the sleeve itself and merely brings the sleeve to its normal position relative to the blouse 12. After the arm has passed this critical position and moves upwardly a further distance the material of the sleeve is free to move generally toward the shoulder and permits the arm to be raised without pulling the blouse from beneath the waist 13. In the case of the prior art blouse shown in Fig.9 a comparable movement of the arm starts to move the sleeve immediately in an upwardly direction and the narrowness of the sleeve together with its sharp angle causes the sleeve to catch about the upper muscle of the arm and prevent it from sliding downwardly toward the shoulder and ease the tension on the blouse body. In addition the slightly longer, edges 15 and 16 which form the underseam of the sleeve in accordance with the invention provides sufiicient added length at this point without undue accumulation of excess material to cooperate with the added sleeve diameter to relieve substantially the entire strain on the blouse as the arm is raised and lowered. In this way complete freedom of action is attained without disturbing the blouse and thus provides a blouse appearance that is not only superior after the blouse has been worn for an extended period of time but provides an improved appearance from the very beginning since the upper section of the sleeve is so arranged as to drape more naturally and uniformly about the arm.

While only one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it is apparent that modifications, alterations and changes may be made without departing from the true scope and spirit thereof.

What is claimed is:

l. A garment comprising a body part having arm openings with the front and rear edges of said openings formed as substantially smooth continuous curves extending in the generally vertical direction and a sleeve secured to each of said openings, each sleeve having front and back parts with the edges of said parts extending from a com- ,deeply cut adjacent the, lower end than the edge of the rear part and the peripheral edge of each sleeve having substantially the same length as the edge of the cooperating arm opening whereby the sleeves and body may be joined without material puekering of the joined edges.

2. A garment comprising a body part having arm openings with the front and rear edges of said openings formed as substantially smooth continuous curves extending in the generally vertical direction and a sleeve secured to each of said openings, each sleeve having front and back parts with the edges of said parts extending from a common upper point downwardly to a low point at an angle of the order of magnitude of 20 to 30 with the axis I of the sleeve, the edge of at least said front part being in the form of an 8 curve with the portion adjacent the lower end being more deeply out than the corresponding portion of therear part, and the peripheral edge of each sleeve having substantially the same length as the edge of the corresponding arm opening whereby the sleeves and body may be joined without material pucken'ng of the joined edges.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

